We’re checking out the Mayberry Confidential story by Jim Clark that was in the 2011 edition of the Surry Arts Council’s publication.

Jim Clark is the Presiding Goober of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club and nobody can capture the spirit of Mayberry like Jim. His story called “Mayberry Rockin’ for the Ages” is a wonderful example of what Dr. Harrison Everett Breen was trying to teach us all in “Sermon for Today.” Slow down…..what’s your hurry?

I hope you’ll find a rockin’ chair to sit in and visit with family and friends. Those relationships…they’re what Mayberry is about. Don’t let them pass you by.

Like Andy said at the close of “Return to Mayberry,” “To good friends.”

Follow me on Twitter if you use twitter. I’ve been posting Mayberry things there as another way to let folks know about The Andy Griffith Show.

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Allan, I love good, old-fashioned porch sitting, just as it was done in Mayberry. Unfortunately, I have neither a front nor back porch for sitting and tend to gaze longingly at homes I see with nice, big porches. Just the other day, we drove past a large, old, well-kept house here in town, and my husband (who is well aware of my penchant for porches) pointed out the beautiful porch complete with comfortable-looking outdoor furniture. I said, “Yes, and look–it even has ceiling fans!” Well, maybe someday I will have a lovely sitting porch of my own.

In the meantime, I do have a porch memory to share. This one is from only a couple of years ago. My daughter and I had made a new friend. She lived down the road from my parents, who are country dwellers. During one of our visits to the farm, I was taking a walk, and my daughter was riding her bike with me. We passed a charming little house at the foot of a small hill, tucked in a cluster of trees. I knew that this house had recently sold and wondered who the new owners were. As we drew near, I saw a lady out in the yard weeding some flowers. I offered a friendly hello to her as I passed. She responded, so I stopped and we chatted for awhile. I took an instant liking to her, as did my daughter, so the next time we visited my folks and went for a walk, we dropped by to see her again. She was in the middle of something but asked if we’d stop on our way back from our walk, and we did. By that time, it was early evening, and the summer sun was hanging low in the western sky. My new friend invited us onto her porch, a nice sitting porch with two, large, comfortable rocking chairs and a rustic table between. She went in the house and shortly came out with glasses of peach iced tea. We leisurely rocked and sipped tea and got to know one another while my daughter romped with the family dog. We laughed and talked until the sun started to slip below the horizon and the sky took on a soft, pastel hue. Then it was time to go. But we returned for more visits whenever we were at the farm. Unfortunately, my friend and her husband moved a few states away the following year to pursue a job opportunity. But we stay in touch through e-mail. The last time I e-mailed her, which was rather recently, I mentioned that every time I make peach tea, I relive that warm summer evening on her porch. I think peach tea will prompt that sweet memory for a long time to come.

The house has a new owner now. We haven’t had the opportunity yet to meet her. But if that time ever comes, I hope she’ll invite us to sit on the porch once more in the rockers that my friend left behind. And perhaps one day I’ll have the porch of my dreams. If so, I’ll be on the lookout for a friendly passerby to invite to come on up and “sit a spell,” and I’ll anticipate pleasant memories yet to be made.

I don’t think we ever lived in a house with a front porch, but I do have many memories of sitting with family as my grandmother was busy shelling beans and field peas with lots of small talk going on.

One of the things I remember the most was as a kid living in SW Oklahoma was being still and watching the winds blow through the cotton wood trees and listening to the locusts sing. That was my front portch and today anytime I hear the locusts singing, I think back to that time when I was 10 years old.